He was in the beginning with God. John 1:2
“Before the beginning began You where there with the plan, You knew what You were going to do before You did it.”
When the earth was formless and void, You were there. When darkness covered the deep, You were there. When the Spirit brooded over the waters, You were there. There is not a time when You were not. And the voice of the Lord thundered out of the darkness, “Let there be….” You were there; The Word of God. In the beginning, the beginning, You were there. You were, and You currently are, and You will forever be. There will never be a time when You are not. You are already in my tomorrow and You are still in my yesterday and today You make Yourself known to me. Before I was You are. After I am You are. Your thoughts are ever on me, what am I that You would look at me? What am I that You became like me that I might become like You? O great and incomprehensible God, glorious and true, full of beauty and wonder, power and dominion is Yours. Speak kindly to me lest I be consumed by Your fire, for my frail frame cannot contain a glimpse of Your glory, yet You love to reveal Yourself to me.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Things Pertaining To The Kingdom
The book of Acts begins by telling us about a resurrected Jesus appearing to the apostles and speaking about things pertaining to the Kingdom of God for forty days. I would love to have heard these messages, what were they like? What would Jesus have spoken about? He would not have spent the entire forty days convincing them of His resurrection, which was taken care of quickly. What might these “things” be? Matthew 28 has the “great commission” which we have interpreted as getting people saved, but it appears that we have a “great omission”. We find that in making disciples of all nations, and baptizing them, that we ignore the teaching aspect of this commissioning. Jesus said to teach them to observe all things He commanded them.
On the road to Emmaus we know He expounded about Himself and how it was that He must suffer and rise again starting in Moses and going through all the prophets. The hearts of the disciples burned within them while He spoke.
He restored Peter on the shore of Galilee, calling him too feed the sheep, and to Mary, Thomas and the others He simply showed Himself alive.
His commandment just prior to His suffering was to love one another and believe that He was sent by God. His command after rising from the dead was to wait for the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses of His resurrection.
The message of the Kingdom is the King that was killed is now alive! The message of the Kingdom is that this King is in heaven right now, and is returning to take over the earth. It is the signs of power that accompany the message that prove the message.
Repentance is the automatic response of someone that believes. If you do not repent then you do not believe.
We have reduced the entire message of the Kingdom of God to the forgiveness of sins while eking out a pitiful existence. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is only the entranceway, the foyer so to speak. Hebrews tells us to not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. It says we should leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ and move on to perfection. Yet we live as if these things are all there is, constantly living in the cycle of sin having dominion over us.
When He returns to the earth I wonder if we will have a clue as to who He is and how He does things or if we will be shocked and offended by what we see. Now is the season to learn of Him, who He is and what He is like so He can enjoy us and we can enjoy Him both now and in the ages to come.
Jesus is still alive, He is still speaking about the Kingdom, He is still returning. Give us ears to hear.
On the road to Emmaus we know He expounded about Himself and how it was that He must suffer and rise again starting in Moses and going through all the prophets. The hearts of the disciples burned within them while He spoke.
He restored Peter on the shore of Galilee, calling him too feed the sheep, and to Mary, Thomas and the others He simply showed Himself alive.
His commandment just prior to His suffering was to love one another and believe that He was sent by God. His command after rising from the dead was to wait for the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses of His resurrection.
The message of the Kingdom is the King that was killed is now alive! The message of the Kingdom is that this King is in heaven right now, and is returning to take over the earth. It is the signs of power that accompany the message that prove the message.
Repentance is the automatic response of someone that believes. If you do not repent then you do not believe.
We have reduced the entire message of the Kingdom of God to the forgiveness of sins while eking out a pitiful existence. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is only the entranceway, the foyer so to speak. Hebrews tells us to not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. It says we should leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ and move on to perfection. Yet we live as if these things are all there is, constantly living in the cycle of sin having dominion over us.
When He returns to the earth I wonder if we will have a clue as to who He is and how He does things or if we will be shocked and offended by what we see. Now is the season to learn of Him, who He is and what He is like so He can enjoy us and we can enjoy Him both now and in the ages to come.
Jesus is still alive, He is still speaking about the Kingdom, He is still returning. Give us ears to hear.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday EGS
This morning we had a great EGS(Encounter God Service) at IHOP-Macon!! Bryan Holder and his wife Racheal led us in worship. These two are amazing, they've been married a little over a year with their first child on the way and together they really brought the right atmosphere to encounter God. Rachael is a talented keyboardest while Bryan has a real knack for expressing the heart of God with spontanious choruses that penetrate the soul.
I had the great privelage of delivering the message. The Lord was gracious to open up some things about asking and receiving that really ministered to some. I am hoping to be able to link the messages to my blog soon. I am not a computer guy so bear with me in the wait.
Some of the highlights from the message:
-Everything you have or have experienced with Jesus is a result of your asking. How many of us became believers without first asking God? We are taught to “ask Jesus into our heart”, and even though that particular phrase is not evident in the Scripture the principle of handing over the governing authority of our life to another is. Jesus, I have completely messed my life up, I am not who you made me to be, so I ask you to take over. So if it began with asking, why doesn’t it continue by asking?
-It is as if we “ask” Jesus to take over and then at some point we say “I’ve got this one Lord” and He will let us have the reigns. We leave Jesus on the sidelines while we go and try to be the star of the game.
-So in thinking we perfectly understand God we begin to ask for others; friends, family, children, spouses, co-workers etc. We ask God to change this or that in these people so that they could know Jesus like we do, because of course God does not want any to perish. Really what we are doing is asking God to conform them into our image. We try to get God to change others so we wont be bothered by them instead of asking God to change us so that we can be a blessing to them.
I had the great privelage of delivering the message. The Lord was gracious to open up some things about asking and receiving that really ministered to some. I am hoping to be able to link the messages to my blog soon. I am not a computer guy so bear with me in the wait.
Some of the highlights from the message:
-Everything you have or have experienced with Jesus is a result of your asking. How many of us became believers without first asking God? We are taught to “ask Jesus into our heart”, and even though that particular phrase is not evident in the Scripture the principle of handing over the governing authority of our life to another is. Jesus, I have completely messed my life up, I am not who you made me to be, so I ask you to take over. So if it began with asking, why doesn’t it continue by asking?
-It is as if we “ask” Jesus to take over and then at some point we say “I’ve got this one Lord” and He will let us have the reigns. We leave Jesus on the sidelines while we go and try to be the star of the game.
-So in thinking we perfectly understand God we begin to ask for others; friends, family, children, spouses, co-workers etc. We ask God to change this or that in these people so that they could know Jesus like we do, because of course God does not want any to perish. Really what we are doing is asking God to conform them into our image. We try to get God to change others so we wont be bothered by them instead of asking God to change us so that we can be a blessing to them.
Friday, October 15, 2010
In The Face of Jesus
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 4:6
Are you in darkness? What an obscure term, darkness. How would you even know? Darkness cannot define darkness and neither can light define light, it is contrasts that bring definition. For good there must be evil, for right there must be wrong, for up there must be down, for right there must be left, for in there must be out, for truth there must be a lie.
Where does the definition come from? It is God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. He is commanding us to allow His light to shine out of our darkness. His glory becoming very apparent as His strength is perfected in our weakness.
A child is told to look both ways before crossing the street. Is this right or wrong? The child is not interested in the motive of their instructor; he obeys or disobeys according to his own thoughts. Something else must define the moral or ethical value of their instruction.
While we were yet sinners God sent His Son into the world. Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God. Everything we know about God must be defined by who Jesus is. If what we know about God is not consistent with whom Jesus is then we must throw it out.
As you look into the face of Jesus you will see the Father and your darkness will be turned into light and you will shine as sons of God.
Are you in darkness? What an obscure term, darkness. How would you even know? Darkness cannot define darkness and neither can light define light, it is contrasts that bring definition. For good there must be evil, for right there must be wrong, for up there must be down, for right there must be left, for in there must be out, for truth there must be a lie.
Where does the definition come from? It is God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. He is commanding us to allow His light to shine out of our darkness. His glory becoming very apparent as His strength is perfected in our weakness.
A child is told to look both ways before crossing the street. Is this right or wrong? The child is not interested in the motive of their instructor; he obeys or disobeys according to his own thoughts. Something else must define the moral or ethical value of their instruction.
While we were yet sinners God sent His Son into the world. Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God. Everything we know about God must be defined by who Jesus is. If what we know about God is not consistent with whom Jesus is then we must throw it out.
As you look into the face of Jesus you will see the Father and your darkness will be turned into light and you will shine as sons of God.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Free to love Him
Father, I desire. These are the words of Jesus in John 17:24. He goes on to tell us that His desire is for us to be with Him and that we would behold His glory! This amazing statement comes at the end His prayer just prior to being betrayed by Judas. Right before Jesus is taken into custody, right before He is interrogated, mocked, beaten and crucified; His thoughts are on us being with Him. The Lord of all creation is about to face the cruelest suffering and all authority is at His disposal yet He meekly submits in order to secure the love of the very ones who kill Him.
We know that God never changes, if that was His desire at that moment, it is His desire now, and it was His desire in the very beginning; when He warned the man not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We can behold His glory, but we cannot take of His glory and call it ours; not then and not now. To eat of something you are taking it into yourself and it becomes a part of you, it nourishes you, sustains you and makes you grow; unless it is poison, then it will kill you.
We know that God never changes, if that was His desire at that moment, it is His desire now, and it was His desire in the very beginning; when He warned the man not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We can behold His glory, but we cannot take of His glory and call it ours; not then and not now. To eat of something you are taking it into yourself and it becomes a part of you, it nourishes you, sustains you and makes you grow; unless it is poison, then it will kill you.
Being able to freely eat is the crux of this command. God did not erect a fence around the tree, nor did He post a security guard, He even allowed His enemy to lurk in the tree that carried the deadly fruit. God does not change, look at Jesus, he had a thief holding the money bag during His earthly ministry and yet there is no record of a rebuke from Jesus toward Judas. We still have no fences guarding our behavior; if we want to do something He lets us. All things are permissible but not all things are profitable.
You are free, but don't use your freedom as an opportunity to disobey God! It led to death then...It leads to death now. His love is the power to keep you. As weak as you think you are, God is greater than your weakness, and His desire is you.
He created you, He died for you, and He is coming back....for YOU!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)